OSN editors' note: Our friends at Earth First! published this much needed intervention into contemporary environmental activism. When will we North American activists learn to use the "lawful excuse defense"? Committing "illegal acts" in order to prevent the greater crime of climate change is not illegal. Learn about that here Not guilty: the Greenpeace activists who used climate change as a legal defense

Earth First! Journal editors note: This letter was originally published as a comment on our re-post about the No KXL protests in Washington D.C. this week. While we fully support a diversity of tactics, ranging from petitions and lawsuits to civil disobedience and sabotage, the critique made in this letter has been actively suppressed in environmental movement coverage of the climate crisis for fear of causing "horizontal hostility." We hope student and environmental NGO organizers will hear the loving pleas of "not enough" and take the constructive advice to "start listening to the people most affected and supporting their struggles." For example, support is needed right now to resist pipeline expansion in Wet'suwet'en territory!

An open letter from some students at Green Mountain College re: XL DISSENT

This isn’t personal, honest. Nothing holier-than-thou. Most of us are playing the same game as you– conference calls, teach-ins, unpaid internships. And it’s for the same reasons, or at least we think so-we’ve seen some of what this way of life is doing to the world, and we know that there’s more out there that we don’t know, more than we could ever absorb. And we’re scared, and we want it to stop.

But we’ve started, slowly, to realize something even scarier. The ways that we’ve been taught to fight back aren’t cutting it. Not even close. Candlelight vigils, petitions, chaining yourself to the White House fence, none of it is going to make the continued extraction of fossil fuels less profitable, and none of it is going to shift our communities away from a way of life centered on profit.

Barack Obama does not care about your arrest record any more than he cares about a soundbite he delivered to a bunch of rich college kids at Georgetown a couple years back. When he told some fellow students trying to speak truth to power that “We had the pipeline rally in the summer,” it summed up pretty well how much pressure he’s actually feeling from all of the environmentalists’ efforts to stop KXL.

Let’s break it down a little bit. This KXL dissent thing, as well as pretty much all of 350 and friends’ strategy, is meant to draw media attention and put political pressure on the president. We’re gonna hold Obama accountable, make him deliver on his promises. The problem is, there’s absolutely nothing in it for him. Even if we all have to hold our noses, the vast majority of self-identified environmentalists are going to vote for Democrats in 2016 and beyond because there’s no other viable option. Third parties sound nice but we all took Gov in high school and know that it’s not gonna happen. The Democrats also know it. It would be nice for them if we knocked and doors and phone banked in 2016, but it’s nothing compared to the money they need from Wall St. And I’m sure you know where Wall St. stands on the whole pipeline thing.

The truth is we’re not going to get anything done if we keep playing politics. Bill McKibben is wrong–this movement is not solving the climate crisis, and there’s no time to stick to the same old strategies a little longer, hoping for a different result. The crisis is here. We’re living in it, even though we’re all insulated to some degree by our privilege. It’s scary, but it doesn’t mean we have to give up. It means we need to try something new.

Rather than appointing ourselves representatives of frontline communities, let’s start listening to the people most affected and supporting their struggles–not just by paying lip service and not just by offering a few minutes of stage time at Powershift. Other communities have much more at stake here than we do and if we’re going to say that we’re standing in solidarity then we need to start acting like it. If you have the privilege to travel across the country to get arrested, use it to take some pressure off people of color fighting for their lives instead of helping some big non-governmental organization put out another press release.

We’re not doing the best job of this either. Very few allies are. It’s hard enough to face the police, classmates, your parents, even when you’re doing the kind of activism you can put on a resume. But we all know what’s at stake here–how many lives, how many communities are threatened by this system–and if we really want to dismantle it we need to start having serious conversations about our priorities and our next steps as a movement. We hope this letter will help start those conversations at your school.

39 Comments

"If you have the privilege to travel across the country to get arrested, use it to take some pressure off people of color fighting for their lives instead of helping some big non-governmental organization put out another press release."

I agree 100%. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for anyone who has family or a relationship to do this, and for those that don't its not cheap to travel. Yes, even a $150 bus ticket and meals can add up quickly.

With that being said, any suggestions for those who have prior commitments?

Please note that a jury in ENGLAND found the protesters not guilty. Their rules on evidence are also different from ours--the Greenpeace activists were able to use a Necessity Defense.
For the last 34 years, the Plowshares anti-nuclear activists who've gone to court have argued for a Necessity Defense. The case I'm most familiar with was Katya Komisaruk, who disabled the NAVSTAR weapons targeting system at Vandenberg AFB in 1987. Her defense was necessity defense-- preventing the US from being able to use its first strike capability (which NAVSTAR makes possible) in order to prevent the crime of nuclear war. In all such cases stretching back to 1981, the prosecution has successfully applied motions IN LIMINE which blocked the jury from hearing such testimony. The jury hears only the prosecution's side--did they break into a nuclear facility with intent to cause damage?The defendants' reasons for doing so are immaterial.
I have no doubt that mass civil disobedience (or 'monkey wrenching') against the KXL pipeline would result in trials where the necessity defense would be blocked by the prosecution. I also think such action is absolutely necessary to stop KXL. This is about getting word out. This is about massive jury nullification.

I can not help but to wonder why this comment of yours was down voted twice. I mean - whats wrong with it? OH and - loose the dogs on all of those around the world who are sending this world down the toilet!!!

"Overall, the measure expands the FBI's powers to conduct secret searches, intercept phone calls and obtain information on terrorism suspects from businesses and libraries while concealing the existence of an investigation."

It's here dude. Convincing yourself that its not "yet" is only avoiding the uncomfortable truth that we have all been horribly played and continue to be so.

Edit: I think the difference me and you may be speaking of is simply the brutality of which the state comes down on its own dissenters.

I don't see anything major happening in terms of crushing dissent until we actually start acting in such manner. Occupy was a drop in the bucket compared to what large scale dissent looks like.

When the time has come that drones over our heads is a guarantee, and msm outlets like CNN are openly debating killing US citizens abroad (for now).... That time is now my friend. It's here.

You may be simply looking for more extreme instances off of the last ones, of which there will always be a "could be worse" example.

All I'm saying is that the word is used all over the globe, and yet we have been trained here the ol USA to think its this complex, specific, cant-happen-here term.

If what I listed above does not constitute what 21st Century fascism looks like, I would hate to see what does. Perhaps it would take an all out war by the government on its own people and killing thousands in the street on a weekly or daily basis?

Ya think maybe Bernie is aware of one or two who might be able to in time fill his shoes? And recommend them? Part of the next campaign - whoever is running ( for the people ) - should be pointing out the roadblocks to healthy growth/government that are currently holding office and enthusiastically pointing out good replacements to serve the public.

Yeah - I know - Huge Job - but the Presidency Is a huge job/responsibility.

All the more reason to point out seditious bastards working against the constitution as priorities to be removed from office - if this country is ever gonna work for the people and a healthy environment/world. It is not a job for any single individual - as aptly shown in the last 5+ years. It is a job for an involved population with proper representation in all aspects of government.